By Fr. Stephen Freeman, January 9, 2015 Though many struggle with the so-called “Problem of Evil,” the greater moral problem is that of goodness. How do we account for goodness in the world – particularly self-sacrificing heroic goodness? It is not uncommon for a person in a dangerous situation to place their own life at risk in order to save the life of another. It is by no means universal (some act first to save
“My child, do not expect some new revelation,” says the Lord of Love. “I will speak to you only of those things that I have spoken from the beginning. “What might be new in what I say is the special attention I shall give to certain aspects of eternal Truth. “The time is coming when a deepening of Love will make an irresistible appeal to the faith of a great many people. They will discover
Be very attentive! Do not allow any negative thought to enter your heart. Do not minimize the significance of the negative thoughts which, when you are by yourself, you may have about anyone else. Keep yourselves from every hurtful word. This is very important. Remember also these words of Christ: ‘Do not do to others what you would not wish that they do to you’. In the company of those who have received you [into
You have already realized how unbelievably quickly life goes by. One does not notice this as much in one’s youth, but when the years bear down upon us, we see that a lot of time has passed and that very little is left of this life. Where do we go when the end of our life comes? We know where we are going while we are still here, but what happens afterwards? Where are we
We can’t seem to know the good news that we are God’s beloveds on our own. It has to be mirrored to us. We’re essentially social beings. Another has to tell us we are beloved and good. Within contemplative prayer, we present ourselves for the ultimate gaze, the ultimate mirroring. Before this gaze of Love, we gradually disrobe and allow ourselves to be seen, to be known in every nook and cranny, nothing hidden, nothing
By Fr. Stephen Freeman, January 3, 2015 The human relationship with time is a strange thing. The upright stones of neo-lithic human communities stand as silent reminders of our long interest in seasons and the movement of the heavens. Today our light-polluted skies shield many of us from the brilliant display of the night sky and rob us of the stars. The modern world is not only shielded from the stars, but from many aspects
“Fire burst forth from the burning bush, yet the bush was not destroyed. Draw near to the Burning Bush, my child. Reflect on this great vision, and why the bush burned and still was not consumed. “The fire that burns the bush without destroying it is a fire nourished by nothing apart from itself. It subsists alone, by itself. And of itself it spreads abroad in infinite growth. This fire does not destroy the wood
It is only when we let go of our own thoughts, ideas, will, that we can live, in all purity, in the ‘atmosphere’ of God. For man, the greatest punishment is when God abandons him to his own will. In our epoch, which has rejected Christ, no one understands such an apparently servile attitude. Pure prayer presupposes the absence of cares. We attain pure prayer when, during whatever work, our mind remains free from thinking
By Cody Carlson On May 29, 1453, Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks. The fall of this great city signaled the end of the Byzantine Empire, the medieval incarnation of the Roman Empire, and saw the armies of Islam spread into Europe from Asia for the first time. In A.D. 330, the Roman Emperor Constantine founded the city of Constantinople on the Greek village of Byzantine to be the new imperial capital. Sitting on the
By Father Leonidas Contos, New York, December 8, 1965 As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. Psalm 103:15-16 If we were to take this single verse from the familiar Psalm, and consider it in isolation from the rest of what is a glorious hymn of praise, no doubt it
© 2020 Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral
